Obama, McCain offer contrasting styles in Web advertising

It's been hard to avoid Barack Obama's distinctive red, white and blue "O" logo on display ads as you tool around online, particularly on news sites. In contrast, the star logo of his Republican presidential rival John McCain's campaign hasn't shined as brightly across the Web.

That's because the Democratic presidential nominee has focused much more heavily on display ads (such as the one pictured above from the home page of the Cincinnati Enquirer in the battleground state of Ohio), according to data released today by ComScore Inc. In contrast, Nielsen/NetRatings found last month that McCain had outpaced Obama on search-engine ads.

Obama's campaign averaged 91,740 display ad views a month from January through June, ComScore found. The campaign had 244,276 in June alone. In contrast, the McCain campaign averaged 7,435 display ad views per month for the same period.

Obama's display ads were "almost universally positive" and focused on increasing awareness of his campaign, said Andrew Lipsman, a senior analyst at ComScore. McCain's display ads often focused on specific issues, with a mix of positive and negative messages, Lipsman said.

"Although the Obama campaign has been using so many more display ads, they’re all general brand-building ads. They all ask you to join the movement," Lipsman said. "They may be missing an opportunity to speak to more fragmented audiences about specific issues."

Reaching those audiences appears to be McCain's tactic. ...

... Data from Nielsen show that the McCain campaign targeted search-based ads -- text ads displayed when someone types a term into a search engine -- more than Obama in June and July (ComScore, which competes with Nielsen, doesn't track that data). In July, for example, McCain had 15.1 million search ad impressions, compared with just 1.2 million for Obama. The Obama campaign questions the data, saying Nielsen understated the campaign's search ads.

When it came to display ads, Obama had 416.7 million impressions in July, compared with 16.5 million for McCain, according to Nielsen.

As part of McCain's search-based ad strategy, his campaign has been more aggressive than Obama's in purchasing so-called ambush ads -- sponsored links that appear next to a competitor's search results. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that the McCain campaign had outbid Obama for ads that appear with Google search results relating to Joe Biden, Obama's running mate. Google users who clicked on the ad were directed to a video on the McCain campaign website of Biden criticizing Obama during the Democratic primaries.

The Obama campaign, which has been widely praised for its Internet savvy and use of new-media tools such as text messages, seems to have adjusted. A check today found the only sponsored link for Google searches of Biden was an ad steering people to the Obama website.

Obama spokesman Nick Shapiro said in an e-mail that the campaign valued both search and display advertising but was not as dependent on search. He explained it this way:

Thanks to our millions of online supporters who frequently visit our website and other social networking sites, unlike other campaigns, BarackObama.com already has extremely high organic search-engine rankings, which helps us limit the number of terms where we need to use paid advertising to have a presence. However, search advertising accounts for a large portion of our new-media strategy, and the reports we have seen from commercial ad tracking services that suggest otherwise are simply inaccurate.

ComScore found that in the first six months of the year there were an average of 5.4 million Web searches for the word "Obama," compared with 1.4 million for "McCain."

The Obama campaign has the top sponsored link for Google searches of "Obama" and "Barack Obama" as of today. But the McCain campaign has the top ad alongside searches for "Barack Hussein Obama." Some critics of Obama, who is a self-professed Christian, use his middle name to falsely claim that he is Muslim.

The McCain campaign did not respond to a call for comment about its Web ad strategy.

The online battle is likely to continue through the fall, with the campaigns jumping to buy ads next to new terms that voters may be Googling. Today, the Obama campaign had the only ad alongside results for "community organizer," an early Obama job that speakers at the Republican National Convention mocked last night.

-- Jim Puzzanghera

Photo: Enquirer.com

Comments

[John Peabody]

Ads, who looks at those these days? I don't. Especially Obama's. So he's getting afraid of female voters favoring McCain/Palin. Tough. Palin is one smart woman who has really shaken the Democrats. I am an independent, I vote for the person, always have, and have about split my votes for President/VP in my many, many votes in my 70 years. I was disappointed when McCain chose Palin but that was before I learned of her intelligence, her stand on issues, her way of governing, etc. Now I absolutely am a PALIN FOR VICE PRESIDENT fan and then PALIN FOR PRESIDENT. I'm not at all afraid of the way she will handle herself in the debate with Biden. I did vote for Hillary, but Palin is far more the greater of the two. Just send all the female Democrats around that you want, Obama, Palin can handle them.

[Michael H.]

"I did vote for Hillary, but Palin is far more the greater of the two."

Palin far more greater than Hillary? You obviously weren't a true Hillary supporter then. More like someone who wanted to cast a vote against Obama during the Democratic primaries (or a Republican posing as a Hill supporter).

Hillary Clinton has donated 35 years of her life to public service. She has a pristine Senate voting record in favor of progressive issues like healthcare. Her family has been dragged through the mud for two decades by the same rightwing men and women who put Sarah Palin on her extremist pedestal. She's been through far, FAR worse at the hands of the Republicans and the mainstream media than anything Palin will ever have to deal with. Yet she's still here, a survivor with 18 million voters across the country.

Most of those 18 million voters now stand for Barack Obama and Joe Biden, just like Hillary does. She knows the risks that can come with a John McCain presidency, risks that include the most rightwing Supreme Court the country has ever seen. Risks that include more job losses, a failure to create a green economy by using "drill drill drill" as an answer to our energy problems and more international conflicts than we can afford after McCain's trigger happy finger gets on the button.

John McCain and Sarah Palin stand for everything that Hillary didn't. They're a complete 180 away from what she preached. To shift your support to this ticket rather than Obama/Biden, who share her policies almost to a tee, just goes to show that you were in it for her rather than her cause. Hillary Clinton would be disappointed in you, "John Peabody."

[charlie]

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